Donald Trump's lead over rival Hillary Clinton in poll hits Indian stock markets

Democratic U.S. presidential nominee Hillary Clinton (R) reacts to a joke by Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump (L) at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation dinner in New York, U.S. October 20, 2016. Indian benchmark equity indices BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty opened more than 1 percent lower on Wednesday tracking Asian equities that were trading weak after a new poll revealed Donal Trump taking a lead over his rival Hillary Clinton in the US presidential race. The results will be out on November 9 morning (IST).Reuters file

Indian stock markets opened with losses of over 1 percent on Wednesday tracking their Asian counterparts that fell after a new poll showed Republican candidate Donald Trump taking a lead over rival Hillary Clinton in the US presidential elections.

The BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty were trading at 27,590 (down 286 points, or 1.03 percent) and 8,533 (down 92 points, or 1.07 percent) respectively at around 11.57 am.

Top Sensex losers were ONGC, State Bank of India and Tata Motors while stock that were bucking the trend included Mahindra and NTPC.

The weak opening was on expected lines, according to brokerage Angel Broking.

"Indian markets are likely to open negative tracking global cues and SGX Nifty. U.S. stocks fell Tuesday, with the S&P 500 dropping for a sixth consecutive session to end at a nearly four-month low as investors grappled with a tightening presidential race, economic data, corporate earnings, and the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision," it said in its pre-opening note.

On Tuesday, the benchmark indices extended their Samvat 2073 muhurat trading losses, though metal stocks such as Vedanta, Hindustan Zinc bucked the trend.

Trump led by one percentage point in the ABC News/Washington Post poll released on Tuesday. It is the first time that Trump has led in that poll since May. Clinton recently led by as much as 12 points.